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This is a great opportunity for you to hear from top policy makers on legislative issues relating to public education and visit with your local legislators. Get more info and register online.

A Vision for Oklahoma Public Education

For the People articulates a clear mission: All Oklahoma public school students will learn in an environment that maximizes their potential and develops them as leaders who will contribute to a meaningful life in a democracy, propelling our state forward into a competitive, global society. Dozens of Oklahoma school districts have adopted a resolution in support of the vision.

OSSBA Blog

Oklahoma school leaders called on lawmakers Thursday to embrace a new vision for public education that focuses on research-based policies to improve student achievement and values the input of school and community leaders.
For the People: A Vision for Oklahoma Public Education is the result of two years of study and research by more than five dozen school administrators and school board members, representing CareerTech and urban, rural and suburban districts. The initiative seeks unprecedented c... Read More...

An issue that has generated a great deal of discussion this week is whether parents can remove their child(ren) from standardized testing. The issue of whether or not students should be subject to field testing has added to the debate on the issue. The frequency of standardized tests in public schools is a concern for parents, educators and patrons. Read More...

The much-anticipated elections are over, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief that the campaign signs and commercials are gone. But here’s a little secret for school board members: the work of advocating for our students has only begun.
We advocate for our students at every meeting of our school board – or at least we should. Read More...

For the People, a joint effort coordinated by OSSBA and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration, articulates a clear mission: All Oklahoma public school students will learn in an environment that maximizes their potential and develops them as leaders who will contribute to a meaningful life in a democracy, propelling our state forward into a competitive, global society. Dozens of Oklahoma school districts have adopted a resolution in support of the vision.

Our children are learning more during the course of their school years than children in any previous generation. Much of what many of us were required to memorize in school is now available with a just few seconds of Internet searching. High school graduation rates in the United States are higher than they’ve ever been. Public schools are still producing scientists and lawyers and teachers and public servants who are changing the world as we know it. That is not failure.

OSSBA News

John Tuttle, a member of the Kellyville Public Schools Board of Education since 1993, will be installed as president of the National School Boards Association at the organization’s annual conference on Saturday in Nashville.

Oklahomans overwhelmingly oppose using public money to pay for private schooling, according to a new poll released Monday.

The poll found:
· Oklahomans strongly oppose school vouchers by atwo-to-one margin. Twenty-four percent said they strongly favor giving parents money for their children to attend a private or religious school compared to 48 percent who strongly oppose it.
· Self-identified Republican voters are divided in their support of vouchers.
· Swing voters -- those who don't identify with either party -- opposed vouchers by a more than three-to-one margin.
· Voters in rural communities were the most opposed to vouchers. Suburban voters also voiced their opposition.
· More than 60 percent of parents said they oppose state government giving parents money to pay for private or religious schooling.

"Our hope is State Superintendent Janet Barresi will accept the regents report, quickly communicate the findings to the United States Department of Education and request an immediate reinstatement of Oklahoma’s NCLB waiver. The ongoing development of even stronger academic standards is still necessary to prepare our state’s children for the future, and we believe today’s report is an appropriate baseline for development of Oklahoma’s new English / Language Arts and Mathematics standards."

The state is asking schools to ensure every child is reading at grade level in third grade. How are schools supposed to achieve that goal when they can’t find qualified teachers? We want students to excel in math and science so they’re well prepared for the future. Is that possible when schools can’t find a chemistry or trigonometry teacher?

Policymakers want accountability for schools. Yet it’s the responsibility of policymakers to find the necessary resources for public schools to provide the education we all want for students. The most important resource schools have is teachers — there just aren’t enough of them.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – The leaders of the state’s associations representing school board members, school administrators and suburban school districts responded to the U.S. Department of Education’s denial of the one-year extension of the No Child Left Behind Waiver. Read the full statement.

Oklahoma school districts are hundreds of teachers short as the school year begins, and school leaders say students are paying the price, according to results from a new survey conducted by the Oklahoma State School Boards Association. Districts representing nearly three-fourths of the state’s public school enroll... Read More...

NEWS STATEMENT The Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration, Oklahoma State School Boards Association and the United Suburban Schools Association sent the following letter to the members of the State Board of Education regarding the academic standards adoption process. Letter on Academic Standards Adoption Process Read More...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) today introduced the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act (S.2451), legislation that would rein in the Department of Education’s (ED) regulatory power and return education decisions back to the states and local communities.

For Immediate Release May 1, 2014 Administrative Costs in Oklahoma’s Public Schools Are 3.54% of Expenditures OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Using information available on the Oklahoma State Department of Education Financial Transparency webpage, the leaders of the state’s associations representing school board members, school administrators and suburban school districts today announced that administrative costs in Oklahoma’s public schools were 3.54% of total expenditures made in the 2013 fiscal ye... Read More...

State Board of Education Meeting Updates

OSSBA is now providing live updates from state Board of Education meetings via Twitter and a live web broadcast. To catch up on the latest news from the meetings, check out our new web page dedicated to helping school leaders and the public stay up-to-date on what's happening at the state Board of Education.

The Oklahoma State School Boards Association endorses the Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust (OSRMT). As an alternative to commercial insurance, OSRMT allows member public schools to come together and jointly self-insure against the property and casualty exposures they face today. OSRMT is governed by public school officials in Oklahoma.

OSRMT was established to help combat the high cost of traditional property/casualty insurance. Today the OSRMT provides competitively priced property/casualty coverage to school districts across the state and delivers service that is second to none.

The Dr. Jeff B. Mills Risk Management Award is given to an Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust member in recognition of their leadership in education and initiatives with risk management.